Posted 3 years ago on June 18, 2012, 5:24 p.m. EST by DKAtoday
(32329)
from Coon Rapids, MN
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

June 18, 2012

Dear Dan:

Thank you for writing. I appreciate hearing from you, and I share the vision of millions of Americans who want to take control of our Nation’s energy future. My Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy is about developing every source of American energy—a strategy aimed at saving families and businesses money at the pump by reducing our reliance on foreign oil, expanding oil and gas production, and positioning the United States as the global leader in clean energy.

Just like last year, gas prices are climbing across our country, and we are experiencing another painful reminder of why developing new sources of energy is so critical to our future. When gas prices go up, everyone is impacted, and Americans have to stretch their paychecks even further.

The hard truth is there are no overnight solutions to our energy challenges. The only way to deal with this problem is through a sustained, serious, all-of-the-above approach. Under my Administration, American oil production is at its highest level in 8 years, and we are now less reliant on foreign oil than in any of the past 16 years. We have more working oil and gas rigs than the rest of the world combined, and we have opened up millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration where appropriate and where it can be done safely. My Administration has also approved dozens of new pipelines to move oil around, including from Canada, which will help create jobs and encourage more energy production. Thanks to our Nation’s booming oil production, more efficient vehicles, and a world-class refining sector that last year was a net exporter for the first time in 60 years, we cut net imports by 10 percent—or a million barrels a day—in the last year alone.

My Administration will continue to look for every way we can help consumers—from relieving distribution bottlenecks to ensuring speculators do not take advantage of volatility in the oil markets. To decrease our dependence on foreign oil, we established the toughest new efficiency standards for cars and trucks in history. These fuel economy standards will double the fuel efficiency of our cars and light trucks by the middle of the next decade, which means filling up your car every two weeks instead of every week.

But as a country that has 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves but consumes 20 percent of the world’s oil, we cannot just drill our way to lower gas prices. The United States leads the world in natural gas production, with reserves that can last nearly 100 years—a supply that can power our cars, homes, and factories in a cleaner and cheaper way, and one that experts believe will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. However, we must utilize this reserve without putting the health and safety of Americans at risk. That is why, for the first time ever, I am requiring all companies drilling for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use.

Thanks in part to my Administration’s investments in clean energy—the largest in American history—the United States has nearly doubled renewable energy generation from wind, solar, and geothermal sources, and thousands of Americans now have jobs as a result. By cooperating with the private sector, we have positioned our country to be the world’s leading manufacturer of the high-tech batteries that will power the next generation of American cars. I have repeatedly called on Congress to stop giving away $4 billion a year in oil subsides to an industry that has never been more profitable, and instead to pass clean energy tax credits to cultivate a market for innovation in clean energy technology. And I have directed the Department of the Interior to allow the development of enough clean energy on public lands to power three million homes. The United States military—the largest energy consumer in the world—is also doing its part, making one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history.

Securing our Nation’s energy future is one of the major challenges of our time, and will require the efforts of our brightest scientists and most creative companies. Americans must summon the spirit of optimism and the willingness to tackle tough problems that led previous generations to meet the challenges of their times. My Administration is making a serious, sustained commitment to tackling these problems, and I encourage you to learn more about our efforts at www.WhiteHouse.gov/energy.

65 Comments

In other words, let's try to outplay republicans at their own game, in the mean while, Portugal now generates half its electricity from renewable sources (so it's clearly technologically possible), electric and hybrid cars exist (but there's no support for those vehicles, so sales are low), global warming is exceedingly becoming an acute problem, and here's our great President actually bragging about how much he's bending over backwards to help out the oil industry, oh and btw, I'm quite sure that response is merely a boiler plate form letter (where they just insert a name, maybe even automatically without a human being ever actually reading the letter, and yes, a good software platform can do that).

Absolutely - and I think that we should let him know that his propaganda is weak. His energy policy with LNG/fracking and Clean-coal/NOT is bullshit and that in pursuing them he is threatening our lives and our future.

Right, and even more than that ... the extent to which Obama has capitulated to republican mantra (and agenda) is just surreal (I'm at a loss of words). I never put much stock in the hope and change routine (slogans like that are obvious political bullshit), but I didn't expect such a complete double cross. I'm usually more cynical than most, but I must say, Obama took me by surprise (he may be more of a Machiavellian than even Clinton was, if that's possible).

You know, leaving arguments about the merits of capitalism aside for a moment, this isn't even capitalism, this is cronyism and corruption (pure and simple). The only difference between Obama and Bush so far, is Obama seems a little less trigger happy, but I don't think that represents any inherent reluctance on Obama's part to slaughter people, it seems more like a continuum in neocon strategy (sort of like a good cop bad cop routine).

Playing to an audience - how much can the masses be manipulated to accept if it seems in opposition to the right wing. How much can the masses be manipulated if they think it is in opposition to the left wing.

People, People, People! Screw this reverse psychology "Time to tell them this" and "Time to tell them that" brainwashing! It is not intended to let them know they answer to you (they don't): It is intended to condition you to pleading to them.

People, People, People! Screw this reverse psychology "Time to tell them this" and "Time to tell them that" brainwashing! It is not intended to let them know they answer to you (they don't): It is intended to condition you to pleading to them.

People, People, People! Screw this reverse psychology "Let Him Know This" and "Tell Obama That" brainwashing! It is not intended to let him know he answers to you (he doesn't): It is intended to condition you to pleading to him.

You comment here is nonsense, DKAtoday. You "earned" 9205 forum groupthink points posting childish nonsense like this? That stat should have the moderators and members of this forum burying their heads in shame...

Brucie you are really hung up over the idea of score - you should get together with trashy as he also has a hang-up over score as well. You could con-soul each other - maybe you two would develop a real relationship and then your lives (?) would not be so empty.

Why do you keep calling me names that aren't mine, DKAtoday? Don't bother to answer, as the question was rhetorical. Your posts here are a waste of digital space, Dan, and I hear you don't amount to much in the flesh either...

It's been my experience that forum trolls like you can't beat their way out of wet paper sacks in real life but feel big and bad while cloaked in digital anonymity. I suggest you keep in mind that anonymity is only permanent for those that take it to their grave...

People, People, People! Screw this reverse psychology "Time to tell them this" and "Time to tell them that" brainwashing! It is NOT intended to let them know they answer to you (they don't): It is intended to condition you to pleading to them.

People, People, People! Screw this reverse psychology "Tell Obama This" and "Tell Obama That" brainwashing! It is not intended to let him know he answers to you (he doesn't): It is intended to condition you to pleading to him.

The only people listening to you, DKAtoday, are the ones who have no clue and don't want one. When a politician gets a check for a million dollars with a service request attached and a milllion letters/emails giving him lip about it, the complainers get back lip and the payer gets back service.

"Afraid?" Bullshit. As V said, "People should not be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people."

More lies from DKAtoday: As I suspect you knew before you posted it, your posting here is a standardized email reply filled with corporate fascist puppet Obama propaganda that has been plastered all over the Internet, many of the sentences plucked directly from his 8th-grade targeted SOTU:

It is a political PR masterpiece in that it contains few provable lies but a multitude of half-truths. I challenge any and all who might care one way or the other to dissect this steaming pile of BS and test the claims - one at a time - via web search. That may require missing a few frames of Dancing With The Stars or Hillbilly Handfishing, but I guarantee it will be a better investment than your latest slave-manufactured smartphone purchase.